This is a rather rare item: Geoff Paukovich scoring a goal in pro hockey. After 109 games thus far in his AHL career, the big forward has 10 goals. Paukovich is a physical player (just ask Robbie Bina and Kyle Greentree) but never did show enough to climb the depth chart. The fact he couldn’t do it on what was an alarmingly horrible hockey team is certainly a reflection of where he is as a hockey player.

In today’s Hockey World, Jim Matheson says “the Oilers won’t be resigning Vlad Trukhno or Geoff Paukkanen off their farm team” which may mean Matty thinks he’d be a better player if he was from Finland. Trukhno isn’t a surprise, and neither is O’Marra (the article suggests the Oilers may let him go as well). Colin McDonald appears to have survived the cut and will get a contract, owing it to better footspeed, a solid showing during his callup, and possibly a solid porn moustache (also at the NHL level).

I think Oklahoma City’s AHL team is going to have a lot more of an “AHL veteran” look this coming season. Guys like Charles Linglet and Jake Taylor will be joined by other battle ready minor leaguers and the overall look of the club will more closely resemble the Manitoba Moose. It will probably mean more graduates spend extended periods in the ECHL, as the one thing Trukhno proved is that sometimes skill in the Q isn’t enough to get by in the AHL. A kid like Phil Cornett might be headed to Stockton off the hop this fall.

Finally, with the exit of Paukovich we have another second round pick flatlining. Here’s the score during the KP era:

C Jarrett Stoll (#36, ’02) 433 NHL games, a quality selection

D Matt Greene (#44, ’02) 308 NHL games, a top 4 defender

L JF Jacques (#68, ’03) 109 NHL games, team loves him

G Jeff Deslauriers (#31, ’02) 58 NHL games, was #1G last season

D Taylor Chorney (#36, ’05) 44 NHL games, pure chaos D

R Colin McDonald (#51, ’03) 2 NHL games, possible role player

D Doug Lynch (#43, ’01) 2 NHL games, lost career to injury

C Ed Caron (#52, ’01) 0 NHL games, lost career to indecision

D Jeff Petry (#45, ’06) 0 NHL games, pro career just starting

L Geoff Paukovich (#57, ’04) 0 NHL games, should find another team

D Roman Tesliuk (#44, ’04) 0 NHL games, never got started

How many of these picks would you take again in the same spot? 2? 3? Certainly not 5.

Enjoyed this Post?

Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!